The National Platform for Rights of Disabled wrote to Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on 27 December, urging him to drop a number of provisions from the government's guidelines for Haj pilgrims that bar differently-abled people from undertaking the annual pilgrimage.
Haj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.
The guidelines issued by the Haj Committee mention that any Indian citizen who is a Muslim ‘can apply for the pilgrimage, except those who do not have the mental or physical health to perform the pilgrimage, persons whose legs are amputated, who are crippled, handicapped, lunatic, or otherwise physically or mentally incapacitated.’